Hometown hurler living the baseball dream Marc-André Habeck throwing bullets for the Goldeyes By: Donald Stewart Posted: 5:42 PM CDT Wednesday, Jul. 12, 2023

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This article was published 12/07/2023 (1131 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

On two occasions Winnipeg Goldeyes’ pitcher Marc-André Habeck thought he was done with baseball. Now he’s a crucial piece of his hometown team’s starting rotation.

Habeck played multiple sports growing up in Winnipeg, but from an early age had a knack for throwing a baseball very hard.

His father, Phil Habeck, says even from an early age Marc was turning heads with his fastball.

“A lot of umpires would come up and go ‘okay, this kid can throw.’ He did throw very hard for his age, back when he was 11, and that growth continued,” said Phil.

Baseball was a family affair for young Marc. He watched his older brother play and as Marc began to develop some interest, his dad began to coach him.

“I always played when I was a kid. My brother grew up playing so I was always around him,” said Marc. “(My dad) started coaching me at a young age and I found out I had a good arm so I just kept playing throughout my life.”

After graduating from Collège Jeanne-Sauvé in 2012, Habeck took his talents to Frank Phillips College in Borger, Texas. The right-handed hurler opted for the junior college route so he would get the chance to play immediately. Habeck said the weather in Texas didn’t hurt either.

After two seasons with the Plainsmen, Habeck transferred to Georgia State where he played his junior and senior seasons. Habeck started 20 games for the Panthers and made 25 total appearances in his two seasons with the Division One program.

“(My dad) started coaching me at a young age and I found out I had a good arm so I just kept playing throughout my life.”–Marc-André Habeck

After graduating with a degree in political science at Georgia State, Habeck looked to play professionally. His father was born in France which made the Collège Jeanne-Sauvé graduate eligible to play for the French national team. After some communication with the national team coaches, Habeck went overseas.

“After I graduated from Georgia State, I went out to France to play the rest of the year. Through France, I got an opportunity to play for Team Europe in the Asia Winter Baseball League. It was a one-month thing in Taiwan in December of 2016, I think. I did pretty well out there so through that I thought I was going to get an independant ball contract,” said Habeck.

Unfortunately nothing materialized for Habeck in independent ball. He thought about hanging up his cleats and finding a job in Winnipeg. After a year off, Habeck decided he was not done with baseball just yet and decided to make some phone calls.

“I decided to reach out to our GM from Team Europe, who was Italian, and he got me a contract in Italy,” said Habeck.

The righty played two seasons in the Italian Serie A league in 2018 and 2019, posting an impressive 2.48 ERA in his second season. The COVID-19 pandemic prevented Habeck from returning to Italy in 2020.

With limited options, Habeck took the next couple years off baseball and once again thought about retiring from the sport. That reality changed when he got a call from Goldeyes hitting coach Amos Ramon ahead of the 2021 American Association season.

As a result of COVID-19 restrictions, AA teams often had players that were unavailable and teams needed pitchers to fill in for certain games. When Ramon was asked about local pitchers, he had a certain righty hurler in mind.

“Amos had reached out and asked whether I was in shape and whether I would come play for the Goldeyes, but that didn’t happen. So I guess the Sioux City manager called him asking if there were any available guys that could pitch for them and he gave him my name,” said Habeck.

Habeck played three games for three different teams in the 2021 AA season. He then went back to Italy for one more season in 2022 with the goal of playing for his hometown team. He did exactly that in March of this year.

The Winnipegger began the season coming out of the bullpen but in June starting pitchers Travis Seabrooke and Landen Bourassa were named to Canada’s national team for the WBSC Americas Pan Am Games Qualifier in Argentina, making them unavailable for three weeks. Their absences opened up a starting spot in the rotation for Habeck and he has not looked back.

The 29-year-old pitched only two innings in his first start against the Chicago Dogs on June 7, but with each start he earned more trust from manager Greg Tagert. A particularly impressive performance came in enemy territory against the Sioux City Explorers on July 3 when he pitched seven scoreless innings. Habeck has an ERA of 3.94 on the season, so while seven scoreless isn’t a regular occurrence, Tagert says Habeck always gives his team a chance.

“What he does as well as anybody is he gives us a chance to win the game. The line doesn’t look Cy Youngish, although Sioux City did with seven innings and no runs, but six innings four runs, six innings three runs gives you a chance to win the game,” said Tagert.

The opportunity to play at home is a dream come true for Habeck and the opportunity for his friends and family to see him play is not lost on him.

“That’s honestly the coolest part. On Sunday, I had a good group of friends come out to the game, my family, my parents have been there most of my starts, so that’s really cool to have their support. Them being loud, them getting to see me throw has been awesome.”

donald.stewart@freepress.mb.ca